Sometimes, archaeologists discover a sweater; other times, they uncover entire towns. The latter turns out to be the case in Israel, where a town has been found — and it could be one mentioned in a well-known Bible story. LiveScience reports that it was found along the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee, and British archaeologists suggest that it is Dalmanutha, a place that factors into the Gospel of Mark's recounting of Jesus feeding a great crowd of people with just a few fish and loaves of bread: Dalmanutha is where he briefly sailed after that miracle.

The archaeologists made their discovery during a field survey, and team lead Ken Dark theorizes it is indeed Dalmanutha, and one reason he gives is that artifacts collected there indicate it was an active city at the start of the Common Era. In a June lecture Dark gave at the University of Edinburgh, he further explained his thought process, as summarized on the blog of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins: "It is hard to imagine that a Roman-period coastal community of this size is nowhere mentioned in textual sources, and the site might be identified with one of the unlocated toponyms known from the Bible, perhaps the Dalmanutha of Mark 8:10." (In other news in the region, archaeologists recently found a treasure trove in Jerusalem.)

Easy In Harry Potter there's this city called London. That can only mean one thing - Harry Potter is true! Now let's all go look for Gringotts Wizarding Bank - it was left in ruins but the vaults are full of gold and the half-blind fire breathing dragon protecting it has gone

The funny part of it is that it's "proof" because so little of the bible withstands archaeological scrutiny. Otherwise it would be unremarkable.Furthermore, it is more remarkable that writers that lived in the middle east could be as deludedly wrong about geography as they were.

Judge: Yahweh Almighty, you stand accused of rape.What do you have to say for yourself.Yahweh: It was consentual!Judge: She was 13 at the time! She can't give consent!Yahweh: Erm ... oooh, I know, it wasn't me, it was my spirit that did it.Judge: Mr. Almighty, we all give nicknames to our genitals. I get it, they often seem to have a mind of their own. But you're still the one wielding it!

I wonder if Christians will use this as a tool to say that, "See,the Bible is true"? Of course they will.

That would be so stupid, though. The bible mentions other cities that are real... is there, like, a quota on how many cities need to be real for something to be true?

We could do the math.

Actually, we can't The original equation involves using PI to 7 places but the bible says PI = 3.

Ah well.

They discovered a city! The bible is true!

E.

I've heard the argument before by Christians. They mention that cities, buildings, rivers, even countries that existed back then still exist today therefore the Bible is true. My question was more facetious since I already knew the answer.

Ken Dark said PERHAPS. I have known him and his work for some time. I'm not saying that archaeologists are bright but dark is fairly bright for an archaeologist. (Get the pun)

It is the write ups which are giving a false impression. The second link given by nam is to Watts who is trying to push his book so he has ulterior motives. His book sounds rubbish, if the article is anything to judge by.

I discussed the poor practices in archaeology with a previous colleague of Dark and she was purple and shaking with anger by the end of it. Yes I could actually see her shaking. I am sure she would have liked to hit me. The truth hurts more than a lie. She could not deny that archaeologists ignore the association rules and are afraid to publish raw data because Joe Public can write it up better than archaeologists can.

Ken Dark said PERHAPS. I have known him and his work for some time. I'm not saying that archaeologists are bright but dark is fairly bright for an archaeologist. (Get the pun)

It is the write ups which are giving a false impression. The second link given by nam is to Watts who is trying to push his book so he has ulterior motives. His book sounds rubbish, if the article is anything to judge by.

Well, then I think everyone could take all your comments to the same extent going by your sig. See how that works? And it's "Nam", not "nam". Make the effort.

I am not trying to make money from it. The whole point is that it is FREE. Thanks for the Ad Nam.

The reason I am here is that I hope I can help others. I decided I had to do something to publicise atheism when a school friend became mentally ill through religion and had to receive psychiatric treatment. It developed into schizophrenia and I sat with her on her bed while her family packed her things the day she was taken to an asylum. All she did that day was sit without talking. So I swore that I would do whatever I could from that day. I contacted someone with qualifications in the ancient languages and literatures to tell me the information I needed to know about the bible so that I could debate christians. On this site I have shared something of what I have learned and I would really like a chance to debate here online in writing with christians before I do any filmed debates. I have also practised live by watching Christopher Hitchens debate on YouTube by stopping the video and thinking what my reply would be before listening to Hitchens answer. I still have to practise because Christians often say unexpected irrational things. I hope you understand my reasons now.